Hepatitis C advocate Maria Scarlett wants people to get tested

A Darwin woman is on a mission to break the stigma associated with a blood-transmitted disease, as NT News reveals thousands of Territorians could be impacted without knowing.

When Darwin’s Maria Scarlett was diagnosed with hepatitis C more than a decade ago, she had no idea what it meant.

“I felt very much ashamed of being diagnosed, and I don’t know why,” she said.

“I internalised the stigma.”

But in overcoming the illness and being educated she has become a pillar of strength in the hepatitis community, raising awareness and sitting on the national board.

”Today its not a big deal there’s much more awareness out there,” Ms Scarlett said.

“And that’s what put me on the road to becoming quite passionate about getting the message out there.”

Mrs Scarlett remembers finding out about her diagnosis after an appointment in Melbourne.

“I remember weeping into my eggs Benedict in a really cool cafe,” she said.

There were no symptoms, it was just through her routine medical testing that she even found out something was wrong.

After initial confusion as to how she was infected with the blood-transmitted disease, it was discovered she picked it up through a blood transfusion in 1985, given two years before donated blood was tested for the disease.

The long-term impact of undiagnosed hepatitis C is a higher likelihood of getting liver cancer, the fastest growing cause of death from cancer in the country.

The loneliness was the main thing Mrs Scarlett remembers about life after diagnosis.

Darwin resident Maria Scarlett is an advocate for awareness about the hepatitis C, a virus which is spread by contact with contaminated blood. Picture: Floss Adams.

“I joined a support group with the Northern Territory Aids and Hepatitis Council and we met once a week — it was good to know the way I was responding to treatment wasn’t as bad as other people,” she said.

It’s also what jump-started a decade-long connection with the NTAHC and Hepatitis Australia board, as she became an advocate for raising awareness.

Mrs Scarlett, now in her 60s and back to her pre-diagnosis health levels, said the treatment really knocked her around.

“I went on treatment and I just couldn’t do it anymore,” she said.

“It was so debilitating — I couldn’t get out of bed.”

Thankfully a new medication became available in 2016.

“The treatments are so easy now — you can get it prescribed for the GP, just two to three tablets with a 95 per cent cure rate, and almost no side effects,” Hepatitis Australia chief executive Carrie Fowlie said.

“So it’s a real revolution in terms of treatments.

“The NT is behind the national average in terms of uptake in the Territory.

“Once people get the cure they just report feeling so good.”

Ms Fowlie said modelling suggested there were 3000 people in the Northern Territory living with undiagnosed hepatitis.

“Our mission now is to tell Australia that there’s a cure and find the 50 per cent of affected people across the country who don’t know they have hepatitis.”